Lidia Monteverdi on 2GB Chris Smith Show discussing Medical Negligence 8 May 2021

 ***********************

CS – Chris Smith/LM – Lidia Monteverdi /C1,2,3, etc – Callers

  ***********************

Listen to the podcast

Read the transcript below:

LM     Good morning Chris. How are you?

CS       I’m very, very well, we’ve got a stack of emails from listeners about various legal matters. One here from Lizzie, Lizzie says my mother was recently taken to a rural hospital emergency department, she needed to be transferred to a bigger hospital for treatment, the transfer was delayed and she died, I am angry because I think mum’s death could have been prevented. What options do I have to bring a medical negligence claim?

LM     Lizzie, I’m sorry to hear about your mum. Issues arising from health care in rural settings is unfortunately a story I hear often and this is exactly why the NSW Senate has called an enquiry into health outcomes in rural and remote settings. So in terms of a medical negligence claim, there’s largely three options available when a person dies. The first option is that you can bring what’s called an estate claim if there was significant past expenses or wage losses incurred before the person passed away. The other option is that you could consider bringing a compensation to relatives claim which is also sometimes called a dependency claim, basically that means that any person who is dependent upon the deceased, which is usually a spouse or a minor child, can bring a claim for their loss of expected financial or domestic dependency on the deceased. Now the third option is a pure mental harm claim, so this means that this claim is to compensate you for your mental suffering as a result of your mum’s death.

CS       Okay, and a good lawyer can extract the documents required from within the department, right?

LM     Absolutely, yeah.

CS       Okay, I’ve got one here from Jenny, I had my first child about 6 months ago, my baby is healthy and happy but it was a traumatic delivery and I’m having a lot of issues, how do I know if I have a medical negligence claim. I am concerned about the cost of bringing a medical negligence claim and don’t want to be out of pocket.

LM     So, Jenny in order to bring a medical negligence claim you have to prove that the doctors, midwives or nurses involved in your care breached their duty of care to you, which has in turn caused you to suffer from some damage or harm. Now the issue often in birth trauma claims like yours is whether your injuries could have been prevented by a different course of treatment. That different course of treatment usually involves closer monitoring, or earlier action, so it’s important to get legal advice because the effects of birth trauma can be devastating and life changing. We’re all women in Turner Freeman’s medical negligence team, which means that we understand the complexities of child birth and trauma. Now in terms of cost, Turner Freeman charge our costs on a no win, no fee basis, this means that there’s no out of pocket cost to you and we don’t charge you anything unless or until we get you some compensation, so I’d recommend you to get in touch with us.

Turner Freeman Lawyers is famous for getting people the compensation they deserve. Search Turner Freeman Lawyers. Call 13 43 63 or email your enquiry to 2GB@turnerfreeman.com.au